


In the Light of the Moon

by rainbowchristy



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, New Kid Phil Lester, Panic Attacks, Pastel Dan Howell, Shy Dan Howell, Superpowers, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowchristy/pseuds/rainbowchristy
Summary: Dan Howell’s never had any friends. Why? Because he has a superpower. One that he can’t control. Luckily, the new kid at his school doesn’t mind.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	In the Light of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThoughtaThought](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoughtaThought/gifts).



> This fic is for thoughtathought, as part of the phandomcharityworks! It’s taken a long time but it’s finally done!! I hope you like it :D
> 
> Thank you jilliancares for beta’ing!
> 
> TW: Teasing/Bullying, panic attacks, nose bleed/blood, talk of death while giving birth, non-con flirting.

Dan sat in his seat, resting his arms on the desk in front of him and his chin on his arms.

“Daniel Howell?” the teacher, who was a substitute, called. Dan raised his head, putting his hand up to inform the teacher he was indeed present. “Daniel?” the teacher repeated, eyes scanning the classroom.

Dan sighed and internally slapped himself. Of course, his day started this way and of course, it was a substitute, meaning they didn’t know. Focusing, he waved his arm and caught the teacher’s attention. “Oh sorry, Daniel, didn’t see you there.”

Dan smiled tightly in reply while someone across the classroom snickered. “Don’t worry, he’s used to being invisible,” they said. The teacher raised an eyebrow and looked back to Dan but did nothing else. The teacher moved on to the next person on the roll and Dan rested his head back into his arms, wanting the day to be over already.

Homeroom ended ten minutes later and Dan made his way out of the classroom and towards his locker (he’d been late to school and hadn’t had time to collect his books). After locating his French textbook, he clutched it to his chest, turning to see the fast-moving swarm of students. He’d wait until it cleared a little bit. It’s not like the teacher would notice if he wasn’t there on time, anyway.

Five minutes later, the halls were mostly empty and Dan made his way towards his class. He stopped when he saw a student walking towards him quickly, scared they were going to hurt him.

It didn’t happen often, but sometimes the other students turned physical (even if they couldn’t see the damage they were doing, they could still hear him suffering, and that got them off or something). But this student wasn’t one of the usuals. Dan had never seen the boy before, not that that meant much in a school full of thousands of students.

Either way, the boy kept walking towards him and Dan dodged out of the way to avoid him (at which point he realised he clearly wasn’t visible at that moment). The boy tripped over Dan’s shoelace, causing Dan to fall, too. The boy caught himself, swearing as his backpack tumbled over his head, tugging under his armpits. He stood back up, looking behind himself to (obviously) see no one. And by that point, Dan was too embarrassed. Even if he focussed, he wouldn’t become visible.

The boy visibly shrugged his shoulders and laughed at himself. “God, Phil, you’re so clumsy,” he told himself. So the boy’s name was Phil. Dan didn’t know why, but his first thought upon learning that little fact was that it was incredibly fitting for him.

Phil adjusted his backpack before walking off in the direction he was originally headed, none the wiser that he hadn’t tripped over his own feet. Dan, after fixing himself up, ran a hand through his hair and headed to his own classroom, this time focusing to stay invisible.

He made his way into the classroom through the open door and bee-lined for his seat towards the back. He placed his backpack on the ground (at which point it became visible again) before he placed his book on the desk and opened it up.

 _“Quelqu’un a-t-il vu Perdu?”_ said Madame Petit, beginning the class, and God did Dan hate it when she started speaking French.

Sure, she was a French teacher and teaching them the language was literally her _job_ , but Dan liked English. He understood it. Why did he have to learn French, too?

 _“Il était dans la chambre de accueil,”_ Mia, the teacher’s pet, replied. Dan hated her on principle, being the show-off that she was. She was in the Beginners French class with the rest of them despite the fact that she’d lived in Paris for six years with her rich, fashion-designer mother.

 _“Il est probablement invisible à nouveau,”_ she said before sighing. “Daniel, if you are here, please make yourself visible so you can participate in the class.”

Dan focussed and popped back into existence. (At least, that’s what he imagined it looked like from an outsider’s perspective. Whenever he tried to do it in front of a mirror to find out for himself, he ended up clenching his eyes shut in concentration and missing the process entirely.) “Sorry, Madame, I didn’t realise.”

 _“En Français, si vous voulez me parler,”_ she said.

He sighed, thinking about the words he needed. _“Désolé, Madame. J'ai oublié.”_

She nodded, satisfied. “‘I didn’t realise’ is _‘Je ne m’en suis pas rendu compte’_ , so you know for next time.”

Dan nodded to show he understood.

 _“Commençons,”_ she then said, clapping her hands together.

The class ended before too long, thankfully. Dan just sat in the back, half paying attention and half thinking about the boy he’d accidentally tripped. He didn’t know why he couldn’t stop thinking about him, he just couldn’t. He had a tattoo, though Dan had only just seen it peeking out from the top of the boy’s shirt. He must have been eighteen, then. He had a bright blue fringe, obviously died, but the rest of his hair was pitch black. Dan wondered if the rest of it was dyed too.

Then there were his clothes, entirely black excluding the band print on the shirt. Dan recognised it as Muse, as they were his favourite band. Despite his own appearance - all pastels and flowers - he did like rock music.

Dan shook himself from his thoughts as he lined up for lunch. He planned to have potato gems (they were his favourite) and a chicken wrap. He fiddled with his hands, waiting in line while he concentrated on staying visible. He’d been bumped into so many times in line, people thinking they could go further forward than they actually could. They often just huffed and rolled their eyes, annoyed.

Dan requested his food from the lunch lady, who told the other lady next to her, before paying the six pounds required. He took his tray and took a seat at his usual table, the one alone in the back next to the incredibly stinky bins.

He sighed, used to this. He knew he’d probably have friends if he didn’t dress like a forest elf from a fairy tale, but he liked his clothes and he didn’t want to change that just because other people thought his preferences were weird. He liked to think that, if he had a more normal clothing style, he’d have lots of friends. Turning invisible was pretty cool, after all. 

He was the only one known to be able to do it - superpowers weren’t even supposed to be real. And, on that note, Dan’s pretty lucky to have no friends, all things considered. It could be a lot worse. The government could have taken him as a baby and experimented on him, desperate to find out how to use him for military purposes, or something.

“Is this seat taken?” a voice asked, forcing Dan from his thoughts. Dan looked up, spotting the boy who’d tripped over him earlier. Phil, Dan reminded himself.

“No, go ahead,” Dan said, gesturing to the bench opposite him. He picked up a gem, putting it into his mouth and chewing.

“My name’s Phil,” Phil said. Dan almost said ‘I know’ before remembering that he isn’t supposed to know.

Instead, Dan nodded, not giving the boy his own name.

“And your name is?” Phil then asked anyway.

“Dan,” he murmured. Phil hummed, picking up the crisp packet on his tray and pulling it open. “Is it a good idea to start with dessert?” Dan asked, taking another gem.

“I always start with dessert. I’m too impatient to wait,” Phil said, laughing at himself. “If I may, why are you sitting alone?”

Dan froze, half-chewed potato gem in mouth and all. He felt heat rise to his cheeks with mortification.

“Whoa!” Phil said, a look of pure astonishment on his face, morphing into confusion quickly followed by worry. “I didn’t hallucinate you, did I? I know I don’t have any friends yet, but it seems a bit far-fetched for my mind to make up a friend on day one,” he said, beginning to talk to himself as if he were trying to reason that he wasn’t crazy.

Dan focussed and Phil blinked, looking into his eyes. Dan was blushing even more now. “You wanted to know why I sit alone and have no friends? Well, there you go,” he answered, now picking at the pale pink polish on his bitten nails.

“Wait, that was real?” was Phil’s reply, which made Dan laugh.

“Of course it’s real, do you really think you imagined me turning invisible? No offence, but I don’t think anyone’s imagination is that strong.”

“I’ll have you know I have an excellent imagination!” Phil said, putting a hand to his chest to signify mock-offence. Dan would have thought he’d actually offended the boy if it weren’t for the smile on his face.

“Well then, in that case, yes. It didn’t happen and you imagined it,” Dan said, sort of hoping Phil would actually believe him.

“Too late now, Daniel. I know your secret,” Phil giggled.

“Okay, one, don’t call me Daniel. Only my Nana calls me that.” (Well… and all his teachers. But it was too late to go about correcting them now, Dan figured.) “And two, it’s not a secret. Everyone knows. It’s kinda hard for them not to.”

Phil tilted his head like a puppy. “What do you mean?”

Dan sighed, feeling embarrassed and shy. “I can’t really control it. It just happens sometimes when I forget to think about it or when I don’t want to be somewhere. Usually, I can make it stop. But sometimes I can’t.”

“Wait, so you’re constantly thinking about being visible?” Before Dan could answer, Phil continued. “That sounds exhausting. I have too many thoughts running around in my head, I’d never be able to focus on one thing all the time.”

“No, it’s not that I have to think about it all the time. It’s just sometimes if I’m bored or something it’ll happen and I’ll have to focus to come back.”

“I don’t understand,” Phil said, laughing some more. Dan noticed he laughed a lot and decided he was too happy to be a teenager.

“Well, like today, I was late to French and I was invisible cause I- um,” Dan began before realising Phil still didn’t know he’d tripped over Dan. For some reason, he didn’t want Phil to know. It was like his little secret. “I mean, I was walking to homeroom and since the halls were so crowded, I was invisible. And I had to focus to be visible again when my name was called for the roll,” Dan said.

“Are you shy or something?”

“Huh? What? Oh, yeah, kinda. It’s not too bad but sometimes I get a bit scared when there are lots of people.”

“I hate big crowds, too,” Phil said, before looking thoughtful. He added, “With a passion.”

There was a lull in the conversation when Dan thought of something. “Can I ask why you came to sit with me? The band kids are over there,” Dan said, pointing to a loud group of teenagers, half of them sitting on tables and strumming electric guitars.

“Well, I’m not exactly a band kid. I like music, sure, but I can’t play instruments for shit. Legit, my old teacher took the triangle off me because I was that bad. I have absolutely no rhythm.” Dan laughed at Phil’s anecdote. “And also you looked lonely, er- no offence. You just seemed nice and I wanted to sit with you,” Phil said, shrugging his shoulders.

Dan blushed, looking down again. “You might wanna focus,” Phil said with a laugh, and Dan looked at his hand to see the faint white glow, signifying to only him that he wasn’t visible at that moment.

Dan followed Phil’s suggestion and popped back into existence seconds later. “It’s so cool that you can do that,” Phil said reverently.

Dan shrugged. He didn’t think it was that cool - more like an inconvenience. It interrupted his life at important moments and made for countless other awkward ones, not to mention the teasing. Dan wasn’t bullied, per se. He was simply ignored and teased for his shyness and inability to control whether he was visible.

They spoke for a little longer before the bell rang to signify lunch was over and classes started again in five minutes. Phil swung his bag onto his back as Dan did the same. “See ya later?” Phil asked, smiling.

Dan shrugged. “Sure.” He didn’t believe Phil would stick around but he’d humour the boy while it lasted. Phil seemed satisfied with Dan’s answer, as he nodded with a grin before turning and walking off quickly.

Dan followed the swarm of students out of the canteen and into the hallway. He had maths next so he wasn’t particularly keen to rush, but he also didn’t want to be late for fear of detention. He didn’t get detentions often, considering the teachers could never know for certain if he was late, but it was still something he didn’t like to risk.

~~~~

Dan rubbed his eyes before shoving his books into his locker and closing it. People were swarming around him and talking loudly to hear over the other students, which just made others louder and them even louder in turn.

He sidestepped out into the corridor, instantly being pushed along by the students eager to get home. He caught sight of a jock and his cheerleader girlfriend snogging each other’s faces off and grimaced. PDA was gross to him, he couldn’t help it. Though with a little introspection, he would realise his distaste was likely due to his shyness.

“I’m home, Mum,” Dan called out as he closed the front door.

“Hi, honey,” she greeted, leaning around the edge of the door to see him. “How was school today?”

“You ask that every day and always get the same response. How do you think it was?” Dan said, heading towards the stairs to go up to his room.

“It’s still polite to ask even if I know the answer. And who knows, maybe something special happened today that you want to share with me.”

Dan rolled his eyes at her reply and she swatted his arm with the tea-towel she had in her hand. “I saw that,” she warned. She was smiling, though, so the threat had no heat.

Dan grinned. “Well, nothing new happened but I’ll be sure to keep you in mind if anything changes.”

His mother nodded her approval before returning to the kitchen. “Dinner’s at five,” she said.

“Okay!”

Dan headed up to his room and took out his homework from that day. He had a little French work to do and a physics report he could work on.

~~~~

It was just past ten o’clock when Dan snuck out the front door. He didn’t often do this as he was aware of how much his mother hated it. When he was younger, he used to sneak out to test his powers but she’d caught him one night and made him promise not to do it again. She said it was dangerous to go out at night, even if he could make himself invisible at a moment’s notice.

Regardless, sometimes he needed to clear his head. And talking in the cool air of an English night did just that.

He pulled his coat on tighter, popping the collar up to protect his neck from the icy breeze.

The sky was black and mosquitos flew around the street lamps, creating an irritating buzz which ruined the scene created in the veil of night.

He sighed, turning away from the road to walk alongside it. The moon was big and bright, stars scattered around it and all across the sky. Dan lived on the very outskirts of the city, meaning there was little air pollution around his house. It made the sky even more gorgeous as it wasn’t blocked from smoke and lights.

“Hey there,” someone said, swinging their arm around his shoulder. He’d made it into the city at some point, meaning he’d been walking for at least an hour. Dan inhaled, smelling alcohol and cigarette smoke.

Shrugging the man off, he spoke. “I’m not interested in anything you have to offer, thank you.”

“Oh, well that’s a shame. I’m interested in what you have, though.” The scruffy man grinned, reaching his arm down to grab Dan’s ass.

Dan froze in fear. He didn’t know how to get out of this. God, his mum was right. What was he thinking going out at night? This was bound to happen. This was _his_ fault.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” someone else shouted, someone who sounded a lot more sober than the man currently groping him.

The man, thankfully, did back off and raised his hands in defeat. “I didn’t do anything,” he slurred out, moving his hands to stuff them in his pockets.

“Yeah, but the point is you would have had I not stepped in,” the other guy said, coming to stand next to Dan. It was at that point he realised his saviour was none other than Phil from school. What were the chances of running into the same guy twice in one day, someone he’d only just met, at that?

“Whatever,” the guy grumbled, before turning to walk away.

Once the guy left, Phil turned to him. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Dan blushed and looked down, starting to pick at one of his nails again. He realised how close he came to having something really bad happen to him. If Phil hadn’t stepped in, who knows how far that guy would have gone? He could have ruined Dan’s life. And on that note, he could have _ended_ Dan’s life. Dan could have _died_ and all because he didn’t listen to his mother.

He shook himself. It didn’t happen. There was no point in thinking of all the ‘what if’s’. “I’m fine, he didn’t hurt me,” Dan said.

“Thank God,” Phil breathed out. Dan noticed the swirls of breath dissipate in the cold air.

“What are you even doing out here at this time of night?” Dan asked, chuckling a little.

Phil raised an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Dan blushed. “Oh yeah. Uh, I sometimes go on walks to clear my head a little. It’s an old habit,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders as if that would add to his justification.

“I get that. I used to do that too before I moved here.”

They started walking together, further into the city.

“Where did you live before here?”

“Somewhere called Brilley. It’s right near the Wales border. It’s a really small town so everyone knew each other and it was safe to go out at night. Unlike here,” Phil said, smiling.

At that moment, there was a loud crash behind them. They both turn to see three aggressive-looking, drunk men. One had just smashed their beer bottle, which must have been the cause of the crash.

The men didn’t appear to have spotted them yet but Dan knew they would any second. He pushed Phil against the wall near them and stood in front of him.

“Hug me, now,” he demanded.

Phil just looked confused at the request that was more of a demand. “Just hug me and shut up!” Dan whisper-shouted. Phil didn’t ask any more questions as he wrapped his arms around Dan.

Dan closed his eyes for a split second before opening them again, seeing the glow around himself and Phil. The older (well, assumed older, Dan didn’t actually know how old he was) boy opened his mouth as if to say something but Dan shook his head violently before turning to look at the drunk men that had caused all this.

They were only a small shop away from them now but they seemed none the wiser to Dan and Phil’s presence. They shuffled past, one of them tripping over their own feet before catching themself.

“Can’t believe they kicked us out,” one muttered. “Fucking punks.”

“Ah well. There’s a-another bar down the- down the- what was I saying?” That evoked a laugh from the third guy who swung his arm around his shoulder, much like the man from earlier had done to Dan. The difference, however, is this man didn’t care.

“Bar’s down the street, mate,” he said, tripping and catching himself on his friend this time.

Once they got a bit further away, Dan deemed it safe and stepped away from Phil, watching the glow vanish from Phil first and then from Dan.

Phil stared at his hand as if he’d seen a ghost. “I- what just happened?” he asked.

“We were invisible,” Dan answered, turning back the way they’d come, towards his and presumably Phil’s houses.

“But I can’t be invisible, that’s not something normal people can do,” Phil said, jogging to catch up to Dan. “Um, no offence.”

Dan laughed. “None taken. But seriously, if something I’m touching gives away where I am and I’m invisible, it goes invisible with me. That’s why I had you hug me. Because with your arms around me, if only you were visible it’d give away where I am, so you go with me. That’s why things I touch like my backpack are invisible when I am,” Dan explained.

“Exposition much?” Phil said, laughing. “How do you know so much about it, anyway?”

“As a kid, I used to test my abilities. I’d get into all sorts of situations to see what I could and couldn’t get out of,” Dan shared. “Landed me at the police station a few times,” he chuckled.

“What?! You should have told me before I became friends with a criminal!”

At that, Dan stopped in his tracks. “We’re friends?” he asked, suddenly really shy. He kept managing to forget why he didn’t talk to people outside his family with Phil — twice now he’d done that.

Phil stopped with Dan but rather than shy, he looked upset. “Well, I don’t just hug anyone out of nowhere,” Phil said, likely trying to make the question less awkward.

“It wasn’t out of nowhere! We were in danger!” Dan defended, crossing his arms.

“Either way, I thought we were friends. That is, if you want to be?”

“Yeah, yeah I think I’d like that. I’ve never had friends before,” Dan answered, before realising how lame it sounded to have never had friends at seventeen.

Phil chucked and Dan wouldn’t have noticed anything was off if not for Phil staring at Dan’s ear or what must have been around his ear. He quickly looked down and noticed he was, once again, faintly glowing. He closed his eyes and focussed, opening his eyes when he heard Phil speak. “Hi again.”

Dan grinned. “Hi.”

The quiet moment was broken by a siren blaring. “Aww, I wonder what the baby’s name’s gonna be,” Phil said, looking in the direction of the siren. Dan couldn’t help but laugh at that. He bent over, unable to stop himself from laughing. And it wasn’t even that funny; he’d just started laughing and couldn’t stop. “What?” Phil demanded, laughing too.

“Just- you- your first thought when hearing a siren is a baby being born? I thought it’d be more, ‘Gee, I hope the murderer on the loose doesn’t find me,’ or something else really dark.”

Phil smiled. “This,” he said, gesturing to himself, tattoos, combat boots and all, “is just my clothing preference. I’m more than what I wear. Just like you’re more than sunshine and rainbows, as your clothes would suggest.”

Dan nodded, silently telling himself off. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to judge you by what you wear. You just, I don’t know, seem like you’d be really tough. You seem like the kind of person to beat someone like me up but you’re actually really sweet and saved me from getting hurt by that drunk guy.”

Phil smiled but his eyes looked sad, almost pitying. “You saved me from three drunk guys, so I think the favours been returned.” He paused. “Not that it has to be returned. Or that I only rescued you so you’d owe me something, that’s not what I meant, I just-”

“I know what you meant, Phil,” Dan interrupted, laughing at Phil’s rambling.

Dan suddenly realised how cold he was. His shoulders were shaking and Phil’s teeth were chattering when he wasn’t talking. “Where’s your house? We should probably get home before we freeze to death.”

Phil pulled his arms up to wrap around his body, seemingly only just noticing how cold he was. “Yeah, probably,” he answered. “Uh, I’m that way,” he said after looking around for a second.

“I’ll walk you,” Dan offered.

“Where do you live? Is it far?”

Dan realised Phil probably wouldn’t be impressed to hear Dan lived over an hour’s walk away. He’d probably insist on driving Dan home if he had a car. Or paying for Dan’s cab or something else unnecessary. “Not far, I’m two blocks down that way,” Dan said, pointing down the street they just turned off.

“Oh, that’s good then! I don’t want you walking too far, it’s freezing out.”

They stopped outside a split house, the hedge separating its yard from the pathway.

“You never did tell me what you were doing out,” Dan realised aloud.

“I was just exploring. I prefer the night to the day; it’s much more honest. I wanted to see the city for what it really is. During the day, people are putting up facades for their jobs and friends and families. At night, people’s true selves come out to play. Like those three guys we saw. They’re probably well-off businessmen with families and wives during the day. But at night, they become drunk idiots who can’t even walk straight.”

Dan looked up at the sky then. He’d always prefered the night but he’d never understood why. Phil’s words made a lot of sense and they were strangely poetic. He looked back to Phil. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said. “So, what kind of person are you under the cover of night?”

Phil chuckled. “I think there’s something special about the night that is secretive and hidden. People do things at night they wouldn’t during the day.”

Dan thought on Phil’s words. “So you think you do things at night that you don’t during the day?”

“I think there are parts of me I don’t share during the day. The sun’s too bright and shines a light on every flaw you have. The moon is much more understanding as it, too, is in the shadow of the sun.”

“I know what it’s like to be in the shadows,” Dan whispered before realising he’d said it out loud. He wasn’t embarrassed, though. Phil was right, the moon protected them from their flaws.

Phil looked at him sadly before turning back to his house. “Before I go, can I get your number?”

Dan looked confused briefly. “Wait, you want _my_ phone number?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. You’re really cool, Dan. Even though I don’t think you believe it. More people should give being your friend a try.”

Dan nodded as if he understood even though he really didn’t. He took out his phone and Phil did too so they could exchange numbers.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Phil asked hopefully.

Dan looked at his phone again. “Today, you mean,” he replied, noticing the time. “But yeah, definitely. See you at school?”

“Of course,” Phil said. “Message me when you get home so I know you made it?” Dan nodded and Phil grinned again. “Well, until we meet again, fair maiden,” he said formally, bowing to complete the show.

Dan laughed. “Until we meet again, good sir,” he replied, pretending to curtsy.

Phil giggled as he turned into his garden and up towards the front door. He waved goodbye to Dan as he stepped inside and Dan sighed. The night hadn’t gone quite according to plan. Dan usually liked to wander the streets alone, but dare he say the streets were better with Phil’s presence.

The walk home was uneventful and quiet. Dan’s cheeks were cold to the touch no matter how much he blushed. He couldn’t help it though, thinking of Phil made him feel warm on the inside.

He wasn’t an idiot, he knew what the fuzzy feeling meant and he wasn’t about to let whatever feelings he had to get in the way of his and Phil’s blooming friendship. A _friend_. Dan almost couldn’t believe it. It’d been so long since Dan had anyone want to socialise with him, other than family anyway.

As a kid, he’d been popular, the other kids thinking his ability was cool. After one of the older kids thought it was something to be teased over, though, people stopped paying him attention. He didn’t really think of those kids as his friends after that; they’d just wanted to be around the ‘cool kid with superpowers’, they’d never actually cared for him.

Phil, though… Phil seemed to care. And thinking about that, Dan couldn’t help the butterflies in his stomach.

He sighed, pulling himself from his thoughts to message Phil. He wasn’t home, but he estimated it’d be around the time he got home had he actually lived two blocks away.

_12:49 am - To Phil: I’m home!_

_12:53 am - From Phil: Didn’t get stabbed?_

Dan laughed.

_12:55 am - To Phil: Nope, I’m stab-free._

_12:58 am - From Phil: A true neice._

_12:58 am - From Phil: miracle*_

_12:58 am - From Phil: Don’t type with your eyes closed, bad idea._

_12:59 am - To Phil: Go to sleep, night!_

_1:01 am - From Phil: Had a micro nap I’m good to go! But night anyway!_

~~~~

When Dan did arrive home, it was to his mother sitting on the couch sipping a cup of tea in the dark. Dan hadn’t noticed her at first and had jumped when she spoke. “Welcome home, Daniel,” she’d said into the silent house. Dan would have laughed at how horror-esque it was if he wasn’t afraid after being caught.

She turned around and sighed. “There’s no point, I know you’re there, Daniel. Come in here now and let me see you.” Dan did as she said, walking into the room and taking a seat on the couch. But though he tried, his mind insisted he should be invisible.

The thing about it was that while usually he could focus and become visible, sometimes his subconscious just _really_ didn’t want to be seen. And thus, he remained disguised in his surroundings.

“I can’t,” he whispered, her head whipping over to where he was now seated.

She sighed again. “Fine. Where were you?”

“I just went for a little walk,” he lied, shrugging his shoulders even though she couldn’t see him.

“Daniel, do not lie to me. You’re in enough trouble as is so tell me where you went.” When Dan didn’t answer, she growled, “Fine, have it your way.” She stood from the couch and bent over in front of him. “Give me your phone,” she demanded. “You’re grounded and not allowed electronics until you tell me where you were. It’ll be to school and back home for you. And if I catch you sneaking out again, you’ll be in even more trouble, young man.”

Dan huffed, handing over his phone which became visible as it left his hand. “Thank you. Now off to bed, you still have school in the morning.”

Dan grumbled about how unfair she was being but did as she said. Truth be told, he was tired after walking so far and dealing with those men, not to mention the walk back.

He flopped onto his bed, kicking off his shoes without undoing the laces. He rolled over and closed his eyes, falling asleep only seconds later.

~~~~

“Hey, freak,” a voice behind him sneered. Dan realised pretty quickly that it was Leo James. “How’s it going?” He wrapped his arm around Dan’s shoulder as if they were friends.

“Don’t touch me,” Dan answered, shrugging Leo off of him.

“Aw, no fun.” Leo laughed. “Are you really that much of a wimp? I mean, I know I’m menacing or whatever, but Jesus. I haven’t even done anything.”

Dan raised his hand to see the familiar glow and thanked his subconscious for getting him out of the situation. He stepped back and was about to make a break for it when Leo reached out and grabbed his shirt, making him invisible too.

“There you are,” he said triumphantly. Still grinning, he said, “Now get out of my face, freak,” before punching him in the face and knocking Dan to the ground.

Leo spat at him before marching off, high-fiving someone on his way. No one had seen what happened. They’d have heard his shouts, but no one knew Dan’s nose was now broken.

Dan pulled himself off the floor and stumbled to the nearby bathroom. He held his hand to his face, getting his fingers all bloody but thankfully saving his uniform. His mother would not be happy if it stained.

He turned the tap on, pulling out a wad of paper towels and holding it to his nose. It came back soaked seconds later. Dan started panicking. He’d never had a bloody nose before, he didn’t know what to do to stop the bleeding. Not to mention the amount of pain touching it caused.

His breathing picked up without his control and his head started spinning. He grabbed more paper towels and sat down on the tiled floor, resting his head against the wall in hopes of stopping the spinning.

At that moment, the door to the bathroom opened and Dan froze, thinking it was Leo. It wasn’t him, though; It was Phil who opened the door. His eyes trailed the sinks and it was clear he was grossed out by the bloody paper towel Dan had left behind.

Dan tried to remain quiet as Phil went to the bathroom. He didn’t want to be found, bloody and with a broken nose. Phil didn’t know Dan got teased sometimes and Dan wanted to keep it that way.

He was breathing fast but the bathroom fan covered the sound. He couldn’t think clearly and all he could feel was the pain in his nose and the wetness on his hands.

“Hello?” Phil called out, looking around now. Dan eyed him warily, breath caught in his throat. He watched as Phil checked the doors, finding all of them unlocked. He paused, eyebrows drawn down. “Dan?”

Dan didn’t answer. Phil was going to find him and then not be his friend and probably socialise with Leo and then he’d be punching Dan, too.

After there was silence for what felt like hours to Dan, Phil shrugged his shoulders and went to the sink to wash his hands.

Phil eyed the bloody sink next to the one he was using and furrowed his brow, clearly thinking. Dan watched as his eyes trailed onto the floor in front of the sink. Then, he slowly followed the blood trail, looking to where it stopped and Dan started.

He walked up to the wall, stopping about a metre from it.

“I know you’re there, Dan,” he said, smiling tightly. “Are you okay?”

Dan sniffled loudly, knowing there was no getting out of this. He still couldn’t make himself visible but he wouldn’t have even if he could. He did _not_ want Phil seeing him like this, it’d be humiliating on so many levels.

“I’m fine,” he answered. He stood to grab more paper towels and Phil continued looking at the wall, not realising Dan had moved. “I just tripped is all.”

Phil’s head whipped around to follow Dan’s voice and he once again spotted the paper towel on the sink. “Are you bleeding?” he squeaked out, panicked now.

“It’s fine, just a little blood.”

Phil stood up. “That,” he said, pointing at the sink, “is not a little blood. What happened?”

“It’s no problem, I get nose bleeds sometimes.”

“Oh,” Phil said, smiling a bit more now. “My brother gets them all the time. I know how to stop them if you want some help?” he offered, stepping forward carefully as to not bump Dan.

Dan sighed, knowing he needed help. He was getting light-headed, though he didn’t know if that was from the panic attack or the blood loss. He held out his free arm and said, “Grab my arm.”

Phil fumbled around, grabbing the air until he bumped into Dan’s outstretched arm and wrapped his fingers around him. “Oh my god, Dan!” Dan saw the glow now enveloping Phil and looked down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how to stop it.”

Phil raised an eyebrow but didn’t question it, simply leading Dan over to the sinks and turning the tap on. “Okay, head forward and breath through your mouth. We need to clear the blood or else it can start bleeding again.”

“I thought we tilted our heads back?” Dan said.

“A lot of people do. But if it’s bleeding, you gotta tip your head forward to drain the nose. If you tip back it drains down your throat, which is gross.”

“Huh, the more you know,” Dan replied. He didn’t know why he was feeling so calm with a blood-covered face, but he was. Maybe it was that Phil was helping him and didn’t seem to mind finding Dan in the middle of a panic attack.

A few minutes later, the blood stopped dripping from his nose. Phil grabbed some paper towels and wet it before starting to clean the area around Dan’s nose. He stopped for a second, muttering, “Oh, shit.”

“What? What is it?” Dan asked, panicked.

“Uh, I think it’s broken. Meaning I’ll have to realign it and you’ll probably bleed again. Are you feeling light-headed or anything? I don’t wanna realign it if you’re low on blood.”

Dan smiled at how caring Phil was. “I was feeling light-headed earlier but I’m not too bad now. Honestly, I’d just like this to be over with.”

Phil nodded and placed some paper towels in Dan’s hands. “Hold that under your nose so we don’t get blood everywhere.” Dan did as he was told and Phil reached for Dan’s nose. Dan squeaked in pain and Phil apologised before asking if Dan was ready.

After confirmation, Phil did his thing and Dan cried out in pain. The blood was coming again now, just as fast as it had been when Dan first got hit.

Phil helped Dan clear his nose a second time and once the bleeding stopped a few short minutes later, sat Dan down against the wall. “You can tip your head back now, it’ll relieve some pain.” Dan did as he was told and sighed, feeling exhausted.

“This is not how I thought today would go,” he said with a huff, forcing a smile for Phil.

Phil didn’t smile back, through. “Are you going to tell me what happened?” Phil had his hand around Dan’s ankle so he could still see him and Dan shied away.

“I told you, I get nose bleeds.”

“Frankly, that’s utter bullshit. If you got nose bleeds, you’d know how to deal with them. And second, nose bleeds don’t cause broken noses.”

Dan squeezed his eyes shut, knowing this was going to happen. He pushed Phil’s hand off his ankle and sighed. “Leo punched me.”

Phil gasped. It was clear he wanted to see Dan but he respected the boy’s wishes and didn’t touch him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Does that happen often?”

Dan laughed, not knowing why. There was nothing funny about this, but Phil’s caring nature made him feel giddy. “Not at all. He’s never touched me before. He just teases, which I don’t blame him for. I mean, I’m a freak, after all,” he said, pausing as he realised Leo’s words had actually integrated into his own thoughts. He’d never thought he was a freak before. Sure, he knew he was different, weird, but he’d never associated the word freak with himself (or anyone, for that matter) before.

“You’re not a freak, Dan,” Phil said, looking worried. He sighed, placing his hand on the ground to stand up before reaching out to help Dan.

“Thanks, and for, uh, you know. Stopping me from bleeding out,” Dan said, trying to break the tension.

Phil smiled, satisfied. “My pleasure.” He paused. “Not that it brings me pleasure to see you literally gushing blood. Or to hear you were punched. You know what, let me restart. Go.”

“Thanks for helping me.”

“No worries.” He paused again. “Wait, that makes it sound like I wasn’t worried when I was. Or does knowing I was worrying make you feel bad? Because in that case, I wasn’t worried. Oh, but that makes me sound like a dick. Uh-”

Dan put his hand over Phil’s mouth to stop his rambling. Phil grinned sheepishly, blushing a little which made Dan blush even more. After yet another pause, Phil opened his mouth. “We should get out of this bathroom. It stinks like teenage boy and piss,” he said, laughing.

“Well, we’re teenage boys and you just peed, so that makes sense,” Dan answered simply, heading towards the door with a wrinkled nose anyway.

“I never said I wasn’t stinky! And I meant boys that can’t aim for shit.”

Dan laughed at that, letting go of the door once Phil was in the hallway. “Are you saying I’m the stinky boy you could smell?” Dan teased, elbowing Phil’s side.

The older boy blushed and looked down the hall. “You smell good. About the only good-smelling thing in a high school bathroom.”

“Creep.”

“Oy! You asked! You can’t ask, then insult me when I answer, that’s cheating!”

“Fine, fine,” Dan said, and Phil smiled, satisfied at Dan’s blush. “You can’t just say things like that,” he mumbled.

Phil ignored him. "Were you hiding from me on purpose when I came into the bathroom?"

Dan tilted his head a little, not understanding the sudden change in topic but accepting it anyway. "No. I was embarrassed about the bloody nose, I guess, so I was already invisible before you got there. But I was glad you couldn't see me, at first."

Phil hummed. "Do you usually go invisible when you're embarrassed?"

Dan shrugged. "Yeah. It's more of a subconscious thing, really. I bet everyone wishes they could disappear when something embarrassing happens."

Phil nodded. “Can you think about something embarrassing, then?”

Dan scoffed. “I can’t just think of something embarrassing. What would I even think about?”

Phil stared at him for a few seconds, eyebrows raised, until he laughed.

He reached out to grab Dan’s hand which Dan accepted easily. He watched as the glow surrounded Phil and blushed, realising he had, in fact, become invisible. Keeping his hand connected to Dan’s, Phil stepped forward and backed Dan up against the lockers, making Dan blush harder.

“What are you doing?” Dan squeaked out. The blush had spread down his neck, disappearing under his shirt.

Phil didn’t answer, only leaning in to touch their foreheads. “I think you know what I want to do, but I won’t without permission,” he whispered, keeping his voice quiet so that no one would know they were there but also because it wasn’t required with Dan that close.

Dan, although extremely embarrassed and shy, nodded his head slightly. That was all it took for Phil to surge forward and connect their lips together. The kiss didn’t last long, but Dan wrapped his free hand around the back of Phil’s neck, keeping his close.

“How long have you wanted to do that?” Dan puffed out, surprised at how out of breath he was from a quick kiss.

“Since I met you,” Phil answered, looking down even though their foreheads were still touching.

“Why didn’t you do it sooner?”

Phil laughed. “Because I didn’t know if you’d want to.”

“I do want to,” Dan answered, looking around nervously as he began to fiddle with his pastel jumper with his one free hand. He wanted to let go of Phil but he didn’t want Phil to stop seeing him and he knew he was far too embarrassed to be visible at that moment. “So, um, what happens now?”

Phil took Dan’s other hand so they were both being held gently by Phil. “If you’d let me, I’d love to be your boyfriend.”

Dan’s eyes widened at the word, which only caused him to frown at the ground. After a few seconds, he answered. “You don’t want to be my boyfriend. There is literally nothing special about me and I have no friends. You’d have a much better high school experience being friends with the jocks or something.”

Phil laughed, causing Dan to frown harder and take his hands from Phil’s. Phil sighed. “I’m going to hope you haven’t quietly run away, ‘cause I’ll look crazy for talking to a wall.” He paused, laughing again. “Dan, you realise you’re not only the special-est person I’ve ever met, but also that jocks would actually hate me? I mean, do I look like jock material to you?” He opened his arms wide to gesture to himself and heard a giggle.

Phil was caught by surprise when Dan wrapped his arms around his waist. He returned the hug immediately, though, which not only made Dan visible to him but Phil invisible to the world. He tipped Dan’s chin up and grinned. “Hi,” he whispered, grinning widely.

Dan smiled back. “Hi,” he said, before standing up straighter to kiss Phil again. “If it’s okay with you, I’d love to be your boyfriend.”

“It’s more than okay with me, Dan. You make me so happy and have just made me even happier.” They hugged each other tightly before the bell rang and students piled out. They pushed themselves against the wall to keep out of the way.

“You missed lunch because of me,” Dan observed, looking down in shame.

“I’d skip lunch every day if you needed me.”

Dan looked up at him again, smiling tightly. “Are you sure you want to date me? Like, 100% sure?”

“Dan,” Phil said sternly. “I am 110% sure. No, 150% sure!”

Dan giggled at Phil’s excitement and hugged him again. “Thank you, Phil.”

“I don’t know what specific thing you’re thanking me for since you already thanked me in the bathroom, but you’re welcome.”

“You’re better at accepting thanks when there are no stinky boys or wee.”

“We are never to speak of that incident again!” Phil declared, raising his arm as if that gave him the authority. Dan just laughed at him, leading them to their next (and most importantly, shared) class.

~~~~

“Do you maybe wanna hang out this afternoon?” Phil asked. Dan was at his locker, changing out the books he had for the ones he needed. Phil leant on the locker next to it, arms folded.

Dan shook his head. “Can’t.” He zipped up his bag and closed the locker, double-checking it was locked before heading off with Phil.

“Why?”

“I’m grounded after last night,” Dan said, looking down a little. He really did want to hang out with Phil, his _boyfriend_ , but he couldn’t unless he wanted to get in even more trouble.

“Oh,” Phil said before he grinned. “Well, at least let me walk you home. Your parents can’t get mad at you for that since you’re technically on your way home.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Phil looked hurt at the rejection and Dan tried not to feel bad. Phil didn’t realise Dan lived a forty-minute bus ride away.

“Can I at least text with my boyfriend?” Phil then asked, bumping shoulders with Dan to show he wasn’t seriously upset.

“My mum confiscated my phone. She doesn’t like it when I sneak out at night. She thinks I’ll be mugged or kidnapped or something.”

“Oh, I mean, that’s fair. It’s dangerous, especially in the city.”

“Phil, you snuck out last night too,” Dan said, raising an eyebrow. They stopped walking at the school gate since Phil had to go the opposite way to Dan (not that he knew that).

He shrugged. “What can I say, I’m not used to the city yet.” He paused, kicking his foot out along the concrete to distract himself. “So, I’ll talk to you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Phil nodded and waved to Dan as he turned away to walk down the road. Dan watched, waiting until Phil turned the street before he turned, too, and made his way to the bus stop.

“I’m home,” he called as he closed the front door and kicked off his shoes.

“Good,” he heard his mother call. She sounded like she was in her office so Dan made his way through the house towards that room. “How was school?” she asked once Dan appeared in the doorway.

“Alright. I, um, I got asked out,” he said, smiling sheepishly at the floor as he remembered.

“Aw, that’s nice. Who’s the lucky lady?” she asked.

Dan panicked internally as he thought over his options. He could either lie and make up some name, or he could tell the truth and risk being disowned. He didn’t think she was homophobic, she’d never mentioned a hatred for anyone before, but there was still always the chance. He decided to test the waters. “Their name is Phil.”

She looked a little confused at that before smiling. “For Philipa?”

Dan sighed internally. Even if she wasn’t outwardly aware of it, her assumption that he was straight was all it required for him not to trust her. He swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

“Well, that’s great, Dan. How’d you meet?”

“They saw me sitting alone at lunch and wanted to sit with me.”

“Who’s they, Dan?”

“Phil.”

“And her friends?”

“Nope, just Phil,” Dan answered. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t confused where the conversation was going.

“‘They’ means multiple, Dan. You should know that.”

Dan felt his eye literally _twitch_ at that comment. “Mum, ‘they’ can be singular, too. And what if Phil isn’t a boy or a girl? They could be fluid or neutral and then I couldn’t call him him or her. Neither would be correct because they would be the pronoun he’d want even though he’s one person.”

“Daniel, is Phil a boy?” she asked suddenly, ignoring his outburst.

Normally, Dan would have said no and insisted on keeping up his act of having a girlfriend. This time, though, he was too annoyed about the whole debate to think through what he was actually saying and the repercussions it could have.

“Who cares if he’s a boy! I can be with whoever I want and I want to be with him. He’s sweet and kind and the only person outside my family who’s ever actually paid attention to me and tried to get to know me. God, the world is so stupid! I don’t understand how anyone can think loving another boy is-” he cut himself off as his mother wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m sorry, Daniel,” she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder as she was shorter than him. “I’m sorry if you ever thought liking another boy was wrong. I’m sorry if you ever thought being yourself was something to be ashamed of. And I’m especially sorry if I myself ever made you feel any of those things. I still love you just the same as I did five minutes ago. Nothing has changed, okay?”

She said all this from Dan’s shoulder and he felt tears cloud his vision. He hugged her tighter, whispering, “thank you,” into her ear.

A minute later, she pulled away and wiped her face. “How about we go out to get some ice cream?” she offered, patting his cheek.

He smiled and sniffed before answering. “That sounds amazing.”

They climbed into his mother’s car five minutes later and pulled out of the driveway, heading into the city. They arrived at the lovely corner shop after twenty minutes and ordered their ice creams. Dan chose cookie dough while his mother got strawberry.

“Here you go, enjoy,” the cashier said as she handed over their treats. They took a seat outside under a little umbrella since it was a nice day.

“Dan?” someone asked from Dan’s left. He looked over and saw Phil, making him grin immediately.

“Hi!” he answered, waving him over.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, leaning on the chair in front of him.

Dan held up his ice cream as an answer and laughed. “Oh, um, this is my mum,” he introduced. Phil turned to her and smiled wide, reaching out a hand.

“I’m Phil, it’s lovely to meet you.” Ms Howell shook his hand and looked at Dan.

“ _The_ Phil?” she said.

Phil turned back to Dan at that point, eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

Dan blushed and looked down. “Yeah, the Phil.”

At that, she suddenly stood up from her seat and wrapped her arms around Phil. “Thank you for caring about Dan.”

Phil looked uncomfortable and Dan didn’t blame him. A middle-aged mum who was practically a stranger was hugging him. “Uh, you’re welcome?”

She pulled away and her smile changed to a glare. “Of course, if you hurt him I’ll never stop hunting you down.”

Phil straightened up and saluted. “Yes, Ma’am. I wouldn’t even dream of it.”

“You can’t control your dreams, Phil,” Dan butted in, giggling.

“I can try! I know people who can control their dreams!”

“Oh, well then everyone must be able to do it,” he answered sarcastically.

After a pause, Phil adjusted his hair. “Well, I better get going. My mum wants her ice cream and she gets mad when it’s not in time for her show.”

Dan’s mum laughed. “Sounds like me on movie night.”

Dan looked at Phil. “Can confirm, she goes crazy if her ice block doesn’t magically appear halfway through.”

“Oy, be nice to your mother!” she chastised, laughing still. “Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Phil. I’m sure Dan will bring you around sometime.”

Phil nodded and waved goodbye as he headed into the store.

~~~~

“Hey, Phil!” Dan called, walking up to said boy. He was at his locker, attempting to shove his backpack into it. “What on Earth are you doing, Phil? That’s never gonna fit.”

“It will if I believe!”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s how physics works. Sorry, Philly.”

“Maybe I’m God! You don’t know!”

“Phil, _if_ you were God, why would you be in high school and why would you be trying to make the locker fit your bag when you could easily change it to any size you want? Case in point, you’re not God.”

Phil gave up with a pout and shoved his books into the bag before pulling it over his shoulders.

“Anyway, how are you?” Dan asked, laughing at Phil’s pout.

“Hey, Dan,” someone said. They sounded like an asshole, and when Dan turned around and saw Leo, he realised he’d thought correctly.

“What do you want?”

“Just came to check in. I heard you broke your nose. Is that why it’s all crooked?” he asked.

Phil raised his eyebrows, unsure who this guy was. “It’s not crooked, Phil fixed it,” Dan said, crossing his arms.

“Oh, really?” Leo stepped closer to Dan, causing his heart rate to pick up a little. He’d never admit it, but he was afraid of Leo after what he’d done. Normally, the asshole just teased him but after punching him and causing Dan’s panic attack the day before, Dan was downright terrified. Leo laughed a few seconds later. “Wimp,” he sneered before walking off, shoving past Dan.

Dan turned back to Phil, who looked angry and worried at the same time. Phil gently took Dan’s hand in his and squeezed “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Dan answered, still watching Leo. When he looked back at Phil, he noticed the glow and blushed. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it.”

“Hey, it’s okay, I know you can’t help it. It’s no problem.”

Dan felt a tear slip down his cheek and felt weak. Leo hadn’t even done anything and he was panicking. “Hug me, please,” he whispered.

Phil looked hurt at the words and complied, wrapping his arms around Dan and resting his head atop Dan’s. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” he soothed.

Dan felt calmer in Phil’s arms. The comfort of having another body wrapped around his - Phil’s body, at that - was just what he needed to quell his nerves. After a minute, he stepped back and wiped his face, not that any more tears had slipped out. “Thank you,” he whispered, looking down.

“Of course. I’m not just going to leave my boyfriend upset,” Phil said, making Dan giggle.

“You being my boyfriend seems so weird. I mean, me, having a boyfriend. What are the odds?”

“Surprisingly high, believe it or not. You’re incredibly cute and I don’t know how you weren’t already taken when I transferred.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t,” Dan answered, focussing to become visible again.

“Me too, even if you deserved to have someone in your life.”

“I’ve got you now, even if that sounds really cheesy.”

Phil laughed. “Am I all you need?” he asked, making puppy-dog eyes at Dan and jutting his lip out.

“You’re all I need, Phil, don’t worry your pretty little head,” Dan said.

Phil’s face returned to normal as he grinned. “I’m glad.”

A few seconds later, the bell rung, interrupting their unintended staring contest. They both jumped, causing them to laugh at each other and themselves.

“See you at lunch?” Phil asked hopefully.

Dan smiled. “Yeah, see you then.”

~~~~

Dan’s breathing was too fast. It was too fast and nonexistent all at the same time. He was huffing in breaths but none of the air reached his lungs.

He was in the school bathroom, with Phil in front of him again. This time, though, he wasn’t bleeding.

Leo had come up to them again, taunting Dan. Phil had told him to back off but he hadn’t listened. Leo had laughed as a tear slipped from Dan’s eye out of pure fear. Phil had put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him and Leo had sneered, “Got yourself a boyfriend, now, do ya?”

Dan hadn’t answered, and neither had Phil. Leo had stepped forward, and Dan had back-peddled, thinking he was about to get punched again.

But Leo hadn’t punched him or even kicked him. He’d simply spat at Dan and wandered off, wrapping his arm around one of his friend’s shoulders as he went.

“It’s okay, Dan,” Phil said, rubbing his hand up and down Dan’s back. Dan was back in the bathroom now, thoughts less rampant than they were five seconds ago. He choked on a sob more out of embarrassment than fear. Leo hadn’t even done anything and he’d caused this reaction. He was such a wimp, just as Leo had said.

“It’s okay. You’re so brave, Dan, I promise you,” Phil said. Dan looked up at him then with watery eyes. Phil somehow knew exactly what to say to comfort Dan and he was oh so grateful.

His breathing had slowed down but tears still made their steady way down his face. Phil just kept comforting him, telling him how brave and strong and amazing he was. Dan didn’t believe a word of it and that honestly scared him more than Leo and his teasing.

He did eventually calm down, though, allowing Phil to take both his hands and rub his thumbs over them.

“I’m sorry,” was what Dan first said after he’d calmed down. Phil leaned in to kiss his forehead and wipe his tears away.

“You’ve got nothing to apologise for.”

Dan nodded and wiped his own face, stumbling to stand up. He wanted to wash his face and forget this ever happened. But his legs were weak from sitting for so long, and when he stood up, he tripped forward and into Phil’s arms. “No need to fall for me, you’re already my boyfriend.” He stuck his tongue out as he laughed, clearly proud of his joke.

Dan steadied himself and headed for the sink, splashing his face once he arrived. He felt better doing that, the cold water refreshing.

“How are you feeling?” Phil asked, resting his hand on Dan’s back half in support and half so he could still see Dan.

“Like shit,” Dan said, laughing a little at his answer.

Phil looked pained as he collected their backpacks from the ground. “Do you want to go to the office and call your mum?” Without much thought, Dan nodded. He felt like shit after the panic attack or whatever that was and really just wanted his bed. “Okay, let’s get you to the office, then.”

Phil led him from the bathroom and towards the office. Thankfully, no teachers saw them. They’d probably have gotten in trouble for being out of class, but at the same time, Dan could just make them invisible if they heard a teacher coming.

“Here we are,” he announced, pushing open the office door and letting Dan go through first.

“Hello, how may I help you?” Mrs White, one of the administration members, said, looking at Phil. Phil turned to look at Dan so he could answer but noticed he wasn’t there.

“Oh, uh, Daniel Howell would like to go home. He’s not feeling well,” Phil offered, gesturing blindly to where he thought Dan was.

“Oh! Sorry, Daniel. I didn’t see you there.”

Phil chuckled at her joke as she typed away at the computer. “One moment,” she said, picking up the phone and pressing in the numbers.

“Ms Howell? This is Marianne from Oakland High. I have Daniel here. He’s not feeling well and is wondering if you’re available to come to pick him up. Yes. Thank you, I’ll let him know. Thank you, see you soon. Bye-bye.” She turned back to them as she put the phone down. “She’ll be here soon, you can just take a seat,” she said, looking at the area Phil had first gestured to.

“You should head back to class,” she added, looking at Phil now. “I can write you a late note.” Phil nodded and collected the paper before leading Dan over to one of the armchairs lining the wall.

“Will you be okay on your own?” he asked, holding Dan’s knee to keep himself upright.

Dan nodded, looking down. “I’m okay now, just embarrassed. I don’t want people to see me. I look like a mess.”

Phil smiled sadly. “You’re a beautiful mess though. I’ll message you?”

“Yeah, please do,” Dan said. Phil nodded and stood back up.

“Bye, Dan,” he said, turning to walk away.

Dan’s mum arrived twenty or so minutes later, hair thrown in a messy bun and glasses falling down her nose. “Where is he?” she asked, looking around.

“Here, mum,” he said from right next to her, making her jump.

“Dan, why are you invisible?”

“Didn’t wanna be seen,” he said, after he shrugged to no response.

“Oh,” she said before shaking herself from her thoughts. “Well, let’s get you home.” She signed him out and they made their way to the car and then home.

When they arrived, Dan went straight to his room. He was exhausted and wanted to nap. “I’ll come and check on you later, ‘kay sweets?” his mum said, hearing the footsteps on the stairs.

“Yep.” He took a seat on his bed and sighed. He wanted to nap and his uniform was itchy. He also didn’t have the energy to fix it, causing a problem. He decided to compromise with himself, saying that if he changed, he didn’t have to hang up his school clothes.

“Okay, just have a nap and you’ll feel better,” he told himself, sliding into the bed and pulling the duvet tight around him. He shivered once as the sheets were cold but he warmed them up quickly.

“Dan?” a voice called, causing Dan to stir. When he opened his eyes, he saw his mother with a glass of water and a sandwich. She took a seat on the edge of his bed. “How are you feeling?”

Dan sat up, rubbing his face to wake himself up a little. “Better, thanks,” he said. He accepted the glass of water and gulped half of it down in one go.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Dan took the sandwich when she offered it and ate half, putting the other half on his bedside table for later.

“I don’t know, I just freaked out. It’s embarrassing,” he mumbled.

“Did something in particular freak you out?”

“Just, um, Leo. He was teasing me again and I panicked.”

She sighed, thinking. “Did you have a panic attack?” she asked carefully, as if Dan were beginning to have another one.

“I guess? I don’t know, I’ve only had something like that once before, and that was two weeks ago, just before Phil asked me out.”

She hummed at his answer, seemingly thinking about something. “Your father used to get them. It might be worth going to the doctor and seeing what they think.”

“What was he like?” Dan asked quietly. She never talked about his dad. He’d left his mum when he’d found out she was pregnant with him so he’d never met the man. He didn’t really care, though, the man didn’t seem like a nice person. Dan knew he looked like him, his mother had blonde hair and green eyes while he had brown hair and even browner eyes.

She looked apprehensive for a second before she sighed, reaching behind her head to tighten her bun. “He was nice while we were together. Maybe a little jealous when I hung out with my friends instead of him, but he was nice. It wasn’t until he found out we were having you that he changed. I understand he was young, I was too, but the difference between us is that I was ready to change my aspirations for you while he was not.

“He wanted to be an actor, you see, and he knew being tied down with a kid wouldn’t let him do that. None of what happened is your fault though, okay? So don’t feel bad. We never would have worked out if he was always chasing his dreams, anyway.”

“Was it hard? Raising a kid on your own?”

“Why are you asking this?”

Dan looked down, ashamed. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop asking.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I’m just wondering why you're so curious all of a sudden.”

“Being like me, it’s weird. I’m just wondering if it’s hard for you to have a kid like me.”

“Daniel, you’re not weird. You may be different, but you’re definitely not weird, okay?” She refused to continue until Dan nodded. “Good,” she said. “Now, how about you wash up and I’ll answer your questions over dinner in an hour? We can watch a movie or something together if you’d like?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

She nodded, standing up and patting his cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Mum.”

~~~~

“How was last night with your brother?” Dan asked, remembering Phil’s excitement from the day before.

“Martyn brought his girlfriend over to tell us they’re engaged! I’m gonna have a sister soon!”

Dan smiled at Phil’s excitement. He hadn’t met Martyn but he’d heard lots about him and he sounded cool. “That’s exciting! I wonder when you’ll become an uncle.”

Phil pulled a face. “One way to ruin my mood is talking about my brother having sex, Dan.” He gagged, causing Dan to laugh.

“I didn’t say anything about sex. Babies come from storks, you should know that Phil. It’s basic biology.”

“Oh yes, of course, however could I forget?” he teased, taking Dan’s hand in his own. They weren’t at school so it was safe to do so. They’d decided to go on an ice cream date and were seated on a bench in the nearby park, licking away at their ice creams.

Dan watched as a child tripped over and burst into tears, his mother coming over seconds later to scoop him up into her arms. He briefly wondered if his mother had ever done that for him and then remembered the previous Tuesday where she’d actually left work to get him from school.

“Why did you talk to me?” Dan asked out of nowhere, surprising even himself.

“Uh, when? I mean, I’m talking to you now because this is a date and I’m pretty sure talking is what people are supposed to do on dates,” Phil teased, bumping into Dan’s shoulder. Ice cream smeared across his face, causing him to frown in disappointment before pushing Phil’s arm and causing the same result on him.

“What was that for?” Phil demanded, laughing as he wiped his face.

“Payback!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose, though!” Phil said. Dan only shrugged and refused to apologise.

“Why did you talk to me on your first day?”

Phil’s laughter died down as he calmed himself. “I feel like we’ve already had this conversation. You looked lonely, so I wanted to sit with you.”

“No, yeah, I get that. But, like, why stay? Once you learnt about my power, why’d you stay? Everyone else is normal and you were the shiny new kid people would want in their cliques if you didn’t talk to me.”

He shrugged. “Your power seemed cool. And besides, you’re cute.”

Dan nodded and the conversation moved on. Dan wasn’t really focussed after that, though. He couldn’t stop thinking about Phil’s words. _‘Your power seemed cool.’_ That was why he stayed? Not because he liked Dan’s company, or something? He stayed for Dan’s _power_ , a power that he didn’t even want?

“Mum just texted. I need to be home for dinner. Sorry,” Phil said, looking guilty at having to cut their date short.

“It’s okay, it’s getting late anyway. I’ll see you at school?”

“Yeah, definitely. See you, Dan. We need to do this again soon,” he said, leaning in to kiss Dan before walking away. He hadn’t really wanted the kiss but he also didn’t want Phil thinking something was wrong so he played along with it. But once Phil was out of sight, Dan wiped his mouth on his jacket, trying to get rid of the feeling of Phil’s lips against his own.

Dan arrived home shortly after that. The park was between their two houses, so after a twenty-five minute walk, he was pushing open the front door and going up to his room. His mother came up a half-hour later.

“How was your date?” she asked, taking a seat at his desk and spinning the chair to face his bed.

“Good, until the end anyway,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes through the sheet. He hadn’t been crying but his eyes were crusty from being closed since he’d arrived home.

She looked worried, rolling herself closer to Dan. “What happened?”

“Phil said he was only with me ‘cause of my power. Well, not in so many words, but he may as well have.”

His mother looked shocked at the news that Phil had said something like that. Dan had been shocked too, and hurt. He was still hurt.

“That doesn’t sound like him. Are you sure-”

“Are you saying I’m lying?” he interrupted, staring at her knee. Her face hurt to look at due to the angle of his head to her’s.

“No, I’m saying that I’m not sure you're interpreting what he said correctly. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. I just want you to be sure of what he said and meant before you get yourself into a funk over it,” she explained.

Dan didn’t want to listen. “I know what I heard. He doesn’t like me, he likes my weird freaky power.”

“You know, I’ve been researching lately, trying to see if there’s any rhyme or reason for your power, that is not at all weird or freaky.”

“And? Did you find anything?” he asked, hopeful for an answer. He was disappointed though as she shook her head.

“I don’t have any information on your father’s side of the family, but there’s nothing on my side that hints at anything. I’m sorry. If you want, I can take you to the library archives and see if there’s anything on your dad?”

Dan smiled at her offer. “I thought you didn’t want me meeting him?”

“I don’t, but a little research is different to meeting him. Maybe he had the power too, you never know.”

Dan got excited momentarily before his head reasoned with him. “No, thanks,” he said. “I don’t really want to know anything about him. Knowing he left you is enough for me to not want to know any more. Besides, it’s not like knowing where it comes from will make any difference in my life.”

“That’s very grown-up of you, Dan. I’m proud of you.” She stood up and kissed his head. “Anyway, have a think about what Phil said exactly and let your brain decide, okay?”

“You know, emotions come from the brain, too. The heart has nothing to do with it.”

She swatted his arm. “Oh shush, it’s a figure of speech and you know it!”

“I know what I heard,” Dan mumbled to himself once she’d closed the door.

~~~~

“Daniel, you're going to class today. I don’t care if you're invisible the whole time or not but you need to go to class.” Dan grunted at his mother’s words. He’d been in the house for a week now and it was a Monday again.

“I’m not going.”

“Yes, you are. I’ll drive you there myself.”

“I’ll walk home once you leave. You won’t even know when I get back.”

“I’ll lock the door.”

“Windows.”

“I’ll lock the door and windows,” she corrected. “Dan, what’s this all about, really? I understand you’re upset about what happened with Phil, but this seems a bit intense for a minor argument, if we can even call it that.”

“Mum,” Dan sighed, “I’ve spent my whole life alone. You're the only person I have. All my life, I’ve been the weirdo with the power. Phil was the first one to actually pay attention to me, and to find out he only likes me because of my power is more than a deal-breaker in a relationship. How would you have felt if Dad told you he only liked you because of your blue eyes? Something you can’t change about yourself and something you didn’t think mattered to him.”

“Blue eyes aren’t bad, Dan.”

“Oh, and my power is?!”

“No, Dan, that’s not what I meant.”

Dan wasn’t listening anymore. He was mad. No, he was beyond mad. He thought his mother understood but she was just like everyone else. She thought he was weird, bad, because of something he was born with, something he never got a say in.

“Fine, I’ll go to school. But only because seeing Phil is better than seeing you right now,” he snapped at her.

He pulled the covers off his legs and went to his wardrobe.

“While I’m glad you're going to class, we do need to talk about this when you come home. I hope you know I didn’t mean to imply your power was bad, because it’s not. I’m sorry, Dan.” When Dan didn’t answer, she sighed. “I’ll let you get ready now. I’ll put some lunch money on the kitchen counter.”

Dan showed no sign of acknowledging her as she left the room.

~~~~

“Daniel Howell?” the teacher asked, looking towards his seat.

“Yep,” he answered loudly, causing one particular person’s head to fly in his direction.

He didn’t try to talk to Dan until homeroom ended. “Dan,” he called, noticing the seemingly empty chair being pushed out.

“Don’t,” Dan answered before Phil got the chance to continue.

“But-”

“I said don’t. Are you deaf?”

Phil didn’t open his mouth again until Dan was almost gone. He hadn’t left though, and he heard Phil mumble, “Well, that was rude,” as he exited the room.

Phil kept trying to talk to him throughout the day to no avail. Not only was finding Dan difficult, talking to him was near impossible.

“Daniel, can you come to the front please?” Mr Brawn asked. Dan made his way, still invisible, to the front of the room. Phil wasn’t in this class, thankfully, so he didn’t have to worry about that.

“Yes, Sir?”

“I’ve been compiling work for you in your absence. If you could have this to me by the end of the week, that would be great.” He handed over a huge wad of paper that made Dan cringe. There was no way this was getting done on time and he wasn’t even going to try.

“Thank you.”

The man smiled. “Off you go now, I have a class to teach, after all.”

Dan shoved the pack into his bag, planning to look through it later and choose the easiest activities. Maths wasn’t his strong suit, so what?

He did manage to avoid Phil the whole day and was thankful for his power. He wasn’t often happy with it, but sometimes it did come in handy. He could admit that.

He walked home, choosing not to take the bus. He didn’t want to talk to his mum, hence why he’d gone to school in the first place. Now, though, he couldn’t really avoid it. He’d probably get grounded for talking back or she’d guilt-trip him. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

The one thing he hadn’t expected to see when he got home was Phil sitting on his front porch step. Phil didn’t even know where he lived, so how he’d gotten there was a mystery to Dan.

“What do you want?” Dan asked, knowing full well Phil could see him now.

“Dan,” he breathed. “I just, I wanted to say I’m sorry for cutting our date short. I didn’t know you’d get so upset over it. Mum wanted me home for dinner since the trains were cancelled because of some incident or something. Martyn doesn’t visit often and wanted us to spend as much time together as a family as possible.”

“You really think I care about the date being cut short?” Dan asked. He was upset already from his mother and he wasn’t ready to talk to Phil yet. Not only that, but Phil didn’t even know what he’d done. That just proved how little Phil thought of their relationship.

“Did something happen, then? I know your mum’s okay, so what’s wrong?” Phil asked, stepping closer to Dan who hadn’t moved from the street.

“You should know what you did,” Dan answered, crossing his arms.

“Well, I don’t, so can you please tell me so we can talk about it? You say it wasn’t the date, so what else did I do?” Phil asked. He didn’t sound mad, just exacerbated and confused.

“Do you actually like me? Or do you only like my power?” Dan asked, unconsciously using said power. Phil got closer and touched his arm before wrapping his hand around it, making Dan visible (well, technically making Phil invisible).

“Why would you think I only like you for your power?” Phil asked gently.

“Well, for starters, you said so. And it’s not like anyone’s ever actually liked me before. Why would you be any different?”

Phil looked hurt. “I can’t believe you think so little of me,” he said sadly. “I didn’t even know about your power when I talked to you. You looked lonely and you were cute so I came and said hi.”

“I don’t believe you,” Dan whispered, looking down at his feet. Phil hooked his finger under Dan’s chin, tilting his head back up.

“How do I make you believe me?”

Dan closed his eyes, thinking. “I don’t know if you can.”

“Let me take you on a date. I’ll plan the whole thing and you won’t have to lift a finger. I promise.”

Dan felt his eyes water. “And what if your brother visits again?”

“He won’t.”

“But what if he does?” Dan reiterated. “I know family’s important and all that, but I want to feel important, too. I’ve never felt important,” Dan said, whispering the last part as his voice broke.

“Dan, you are important to me. I’m sorry I made you feel like you weren’t, or that I was only around because of your power. You’re an amazing person and I’m lucky to call you my boyfriend. That is- are we still boyfriends?”

“I think so,” Dan said, but it was more of a question.

“Would you like to be?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I really would.”

“Can I kiss you?” Phil asked out of the blue, causing Dan to blush.

“Yeah, I’d like that too.”

Phil leaned in slowly and connected their lips. Dan’s hand slid into Phil’s hair and Phil’s hands wrapped around Dan’s waist, pulling him closer.

Dan knew they still had a lot to talk about, but this was progress. They’d be okay, Dan knew they would.

~~~~

_One Year Later_

“I’m so excited!” Phil said, rocking back and forth on his feet.

“Phil, calm down,” Dan said, laughing at his boyfriend’s antics.

They were at Martin and Cornelia’s wedding. Dan hadn’t been sure if he’d be invited, but he was. He took his seat in the second row on the right side of the aisle, the groom’s side. Phil sat next to him and grabbed his hand.

His leg was jiggling from excitement and Dan placed his other hand on top of his knee, making Phil aware of it.

He smiled apologetically and focused on stopping it.

The wedding started shortly after that. It was officiated by Phil’s grandfather as he’d gotten his qualification a few years ago, when he’d officiated Phil’s cousin’s wedding.

After Martin and Cornelia shared their vows, Grandpa Lester said the words the couple and their close family and friends had been waiting to hear for a year.

“You are now husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Everyone clapped and cheered as the newlyweds kissed.

The reception was just as perfect as the wedding itself. There was a fancy LED dancefloor and, Dan’s personal favourite object in the room, a chocolate fountain.

“Dan?” Phil said, clearly confused.

Dan hummed from next to him, making Phil sigh and laugh.

“You’re invisible, love,” Phil informed.

Dan blushed and looked at his finger, currently covered in chocolate, to see the glow around him.

He shrugged. “That’s okay.”

Phil shoved him lightly. “Excuse you, but I’d like to see my boyfriend.”

Dan rolled his eyes and focused to become visible.

“What even happened to cause that?” Phil asked, now worried there was something making Dan upset or anxious.

Dan shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Phil laughed. “God, I love you,” he said, leaning in so he could kiss Dan.

They’re lips touched in a peck and then Phil was pulling away.

“May I have this dance?” Phil asked then, bowing politely with one arm tucked behind his back, the other offered to Dan.

Dan giggled at the formality of the invite and put his finger in his mouth to remove the chocolate from it.

“I think the bride and groom are meant to have the first dance,” he said.

Phil shrugged. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” he answered, attempting to wink but instead just blinking.

Dan smiled. “Well, in that case, I’d love to,” he said, accepting Phil’s hand with his non-chocolatey one.

They headed for the dance floor while Dan focussed on making them invisible. The music wasn’t exactly loud enough to dance to easily but they enjoyed themselves nonetheless.

They danced together for a little while, if Phil’s swinging of his hips left to right counted as dancing, until it was time to make their way off the dancefloor. Kathryn announced it was time for the first dance, and for Cornelia’s father-daughter dance.

Dan watched the dance and applauded appropriately when they finished. Soon, though, Martin was pulling Phil onto the dancefloor and Cornelia was pulling Dan on.

The four of them danced together for a little bit before they each returned to their respective partners, the rest of the wedding guests invading the dance floor too.

Dan rested his head on Phil’s shoulder when a slow song started and listened to his heartbeat.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

He felt Phil chuckle. “What for?”

“For everything,” Dan answered, smiling to himself before lifting his head to look into Phil’s eyes. “You’re my first and only true friend, and I really appreciate that. Not many people like me, and yet I’m somehow lucky enough to get you.”

Phil smiled. “You’re more than welcome, Dan. Trust me, it’s been my pleasure.”

They danced for a little longer together before the reception started coming to a close. Martin and Cornelia headed outside towards the rented old-timey car.

“So, you’ve got a sister now,” Dan said, stating the obvious.

“I do.”

“That’s what Martin and Corn say, not you,” Dan teased, bumping his shoulder.

Phil laughed. “I guess- Oh my god, are you alright?” Phil said, cutting himself off as something smacked Dan in the face.

“Oh gosh, Dan, I’m so sorry,” Cornelia said, rushing over to make sure he was okay.

Dan looked down at what had hit him, the object now resting in his outstretched hands, and saw Cornelia’s bouquet of white and yellow flowers.

Martin appeared next to her and saw the bouquet. He slapped Phil on the back and laughed.

“Guess you gotta get a ring then, Phil,” he said.

Phil looked confused before it clicked. Dan technically caught the bouquet, meaning he was the next to get married.

Dan looked down, embarrassed at the attention. Phil grabbed his hand and Dan noticed the glow around him, making him even more embarrassed.

Dan saw Phil lean over to Martin and he clearly wasn’t supposed to hear what was said, but he couldn’t help the fact that Phil was shit at whispering.

“I’m already one step ahead of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! This is actually the longest one-shot I’ve ever written so that’s kinda cool :)


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